Fruit shipping crate



June 26, 1962 P. F. PAUL 3,040,955

FRUIT SHIPPING CRATE Filed Sept. 11, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2; I 31 1 L 1 1 i;/ -74 5% 1 II [1- I 1LI I I 322 w iv: E? T i .2; [f/ a a 7 r f? E 6 i I X I I W 2/ I 4 I INVENTOR PHILIP F- PAUL ATTORNEY June 26, 1962 I L 3,040,955

FRUIT SHIPPING CRATE Filed Sept. 11, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR PHILIP 5 Few.

BY M

ATTORNEY 3,040,955 FRUIT SHIPPING CRATE Philip F. Paul, Beverly Hills, Calif, assignor to The Patent and Licensing Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Sept. 11, 1959, Ser. No. 839,488 3 Claims. (Cl. 229-27) The present invention relates to improvements in paperboard shipping crates intended to supplant the wooden lug in the long distance shipment of fruit, vegetables or other produce. The crate illustrated herein has been specially devised for the shipping of grapes; however it is well suited to handle other perishable commodities. It is preferably fabricated of corrugated paperboard stock which may be resin treated to render it strongly moistureresistant. The crates may be subjected to severe moisture conditions particularly in refrigerated storage warehouses where the humidity is high and the temperature low. They receive rough treatment in use and are customarily stacked very high in warehouses. In refrigerated railroad cars or trucks they are subjected to severe jars and they are handled roughly in loading and unloading. Under conditions of this sort it is important to incorporate in a paperboard crate substantial provision for strength and rigidity without unduly increasing the cost of production.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved paperboard shipping crate.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved paperboard shipping crate having an unusual-1y rigid center divider suitable for stacking under load.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved paperboard shipping crate having an unusually rigid center divider suitable for stacking under load, which crate is formed from a single piece of paperboard.

These and other objects are attained by the present invention which may be best understood by reference to the drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, but it will be appreciated that variations and substitutions may be made within the teachings hereof. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a blank of paperboard from which the improved crate is fabricated;

IG. 2 is a top plan view illustrating a crate fabricated from the blank of FIG. 1 folded in flat knocked down condition;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the crate in an erected condition;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on the lines 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional View looking downwardly from lines 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the center divider taken at lines 66 of FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings the improved crate is fabricated from a generally rectangular one piece blank. The blank comprises a bottom forming panel 11 having end wall forming panels 12 and 13 folded from side bottom panels by fold lines 14 and 15 respectively. Bottom panel 11 folds from side panel 17 by fold line 18. Hinged by fold line 20 are the top or shelf portions of the box including end shelves 21 and 22 and center shelf 23. Areas 242424--24 are cutouts preferably placed on both sides of the crate to aid in the circulation of air when the cases are stacked one on top of the other. Folded from end shelves 21 and 22 are end panels 25 and 26 which are folded by means of fold lines 27 and 28. The other side panel 30 is folded from the shelves by means of fold lines 313131. Glue flap 32 is folded from side panel 3% by means of fold line 33.

The center partition is formed by first tucking under center divider flaps 35 and 36 and then folding downwardly flaps 37 and 38. When assembled this relationship is shown at FIGS. 4 and 6. To aid in locking the center partition in place are provided tabs 46'4t)-40-40 which fit into cutouts 41-41 in the bottom of the box. Tuck fiaps 43 and 44 are folded from side panel 17 and tuck flaps 45 and 46 are folded from side panel 30. Shelves 21 and 22 are preferably provided with cutouts 48 and 49 which in the erected box line up with bottom cutouts 50 and 51 which may permit the insertion of wire loops or other stacking, aligning or handle means. For added strength the center divider shelf 23 is preferably provided with triangular portions 52-52 which aid in strengthening the crate. In assembling the crate from the blank the glue flap 32 is preferably adhered to one edge of the bottom panel 11 forming a tube which in flattened condition appears as at FIG. 2. This is the: form in which the crate is preferably shipped from the container plant. In erecting the crate, the flat of FIG. 2 is first squared up. Divider flaps 35 and 36 are folded through 180 and then divider flaps 3'7 and 38 are folded downwardly each until they lock in place. End flaps 12 and 13' are folded upwardly parallel to end flaps 25 and 26 which are folded downwardly. Tuck flaps 43, 44, 45 and 46 may be adhered between the end flaps or on the inside of the crate as shown at FIG. 5. It is preferable to staple, glue or otherwise adhere all of the end walls and tuck flaps in assembled relationship as shown at FIG. 3 or otherwise.

The crate may be provided with a number of cutouts or holes suitable for ventilation purposes and these may be located in the end walls, side walls or bottom. Wire loops may be used by passing them through the cutouts is-50 and 49-51 respectively. One suitable loop may pass through two of the crates and provide a loop for a hand hold to carry the two crates. Wooden strips or the like may be substituted for the wire handles. There also may be provided hand holds not shown in the end of the crate as will be obvious to those skilled in the art. The relation of the end walls and the tuck flaps to each other may be varied and the tuck flaps may be on the inside, outside or between the two end walls and the end walls 12 and 13 may be on the inside or outside of end walls 25 and 26. It will be understood that the crate may be made of corrugated or solid fiber paperboard and that this is preferably made moisture-resistant by the use of asphalt or other resin or paraffin or the like either in the beater stock or applied to the finished board. In one use of the crates, plastic baskets may be filled with fruit and fitted into the crate in the field. Instead of plastic baskets, wood splint or paperboard baskets may be used or bulk fruit may be packed in the crate. The crates may then be stacked for long periods and in high humidity warehouses, refrigerated cars or the like and by reason of the very rigid center divider the crates do not crush and thus afford protection to the fruit or vegetables.

Shelves 21 and 22 may be eliminated if desired and corner Webs of generally triangular shape substituted in place thereof. Instead of the boxmakers flap 32 the bottom of the crate may be joined in the middle by adhesive, staples or a locking device as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A paperboard crate comprising a bottom and upstanding side walls connected to said bottom, upstanding end walls connected to said bottom, an upright divider subdividing the interior of said crate, said divider comprising four panels of substantially equal size and all in the same plane hinged to one another and to the said side walls at the top thereof, and a second pair of end walls folded downwardly from marginal top edge portions of said side walls.

2. A one piece paperboard crate formed from a substantially rectangular blank, one edge of said rectangular blank being secured to the opposite edge in the form of a tube of substantially rectangular cross section, one side of said rectangle forming a bottom panel, adjacent panels forming side panels and the other side of said rectangle forming a top panel, said top panel having cutouts therein comprising four panels of substantially equal size and all in the same plane divided by fold lines, which panels when folded downwardly form a center divider leaving the top panel as merely a marginal top surface, a pair of end panels folded downwardly from said top panel, and a pair of side panels folded upwardly from said bottom panel, said both pairs forming end walls whereby there is formed a crate having a substantially open top, double end walls, and a quadruple center divider.

3. A tray-like paperboard container which is fabricated from a one-piece paperboard blank, the blank being cut and creased to provide a series of integrally connected panels which form when the container is erected, a bottom wall, side walls hinged to the side edges of the bottom wall, end walls extending between opposite ends of the side walls, and a transverse partition intermediate the ends of the side walls, said end walls each comprising a pair of inner and outer end wall forming panels which are hinged to one another on a transverse crease adjacent the end of the container, one of said end wall forming panels being connected to the side wall forming panels by corner webs which are hinged thereto on creases, and an end wall forming flap hinged to the end of the bottom wall forming panel and disposed in upturned relation to said bottom forming panel, said inner and outer end wall forming panel-s being folded downwardly about the crease hinging the same to one another, and said inner and outer panel and flap being secured in rigid relation to each other and said transverse partition comprising two pairs of panels of substantially equal size and all in the same plane integrally hinged to one another by transverse creases extending between and at a right angle to said side wall forming panels, said cross partition panels being hinged to the side wall forming panels by triangular gussets formed in the last named panels and each said pair of partition forming panels being folded inwardly about their connecting transverse crease and having their edges secured in longitudinal spaced relation to the said bottom forming panel thereby to form a rigid partition.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,707,587 Wittstein May 3, 1955 2,777,627 Crane Jan. 15, 1957 2,893,621 Hamish et a1 July 7, 1959 2,903,176 Crane Sept. 8, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 649,414 Great Britain Jan. 24, 1951 

